As part of our 2014 resolutions, Dino and I promised to travel with Liam more this year. Last holy week,(yeah I know, suuuper late post again) Our original plan was to go to CDO and let Liam experience the white water rafting then spend the rest of the holy week in Malai Balai (It’s soo nice there, promise! It’s like you’re in New Zealand). But our good friend, suggested that we do it some other time as there are many tourist and travelers during holy week. So instead of staying at home, I decided to book ourselves in a resort hotel nearby.
We booked ourselves in Best Western Sandbar Resort at Cordova Mactan Cebu (check out their official website). It wasn’t that pricey and they are the only hotel that did not increase so much during peak season (1K additional only). Swak na swak sa budget! 🙂
We also decided to go yaya-less this trip. Asked Ate Donna to do a general cleaning instead. Unfortunately, Dino was not feeling very well during the trip, so most of the photos you’ll see below are of me and Liam.
Liam entertaining himself while waiting to be allowed to hit the pool (the sun was scorching hot then, so decided to wait til late afternoon before we hit the pool)All geared up!He insisted on wearing his shades (no not as goggles( saying the sun in hot and he wants to keep it on so he can see properly 🙂Running to his dad relaxing on the beach chairThanks dad for the refreshing drinkplay time at the pool (eating our fresh catch, haha)relaxing..now with mommy…Buffet breakfast the following day..We hit the pool again after our breakfast..Liam decided he don’t want to wear his rash guard anymore.. on the way home…He tried hard to stay awake but failed.. hehe
It wasn’t as grand as the Shangri-La Hotel, but it was cozy and we had a fun time together. As they say, it’s not important how expensive or how grand the place is, as long as we are all together, that’s what matters!
Suuuper duuuuper delayed post. This has been sitting on my drafts for more than 6 months now. It’s about time I post this. hehehe
As mentioned before, we were able to book cheap flights going to Boracay mid of last year. We weren’t that lucky as the place was experiencing rain showers but lucky enough as we weren’t stranded there. Kow! I don’t even want to think about the what if’s. hehe
Waiting for our flight at Mactan AirportLiam just woke up and was able to ride the service bus going to our designated aircraft
We arrived Friday afternoon, it was already late and weather is not that good so we decided to stay in the room, play and fool around. Then we had dinner in the nearby restaurant. I really did not push walking around, as it will be harder if one of us will get sick. For me, it’s always easier to go back than have a bad experience while we’re there. The following day, we had breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant and had a walk at the beach.
I think the waves scared Liam as he let us carry him all through out our walk. We tried to let him feel the sand but to no avail. Instead he shouted: “My feet! My feet!” He doesn’t like his feet getting dirty and he doesn’t like walking with wet slippers/shoes. I tried putting him down again, so he can enjoy the sand and the water. This time he said: “It’s not funny anymore, Mommy!” hahaha.. What he meant then was that it’s not fun anymore. Oh my, the waves were really strong then, Dino and I did not dare swim and walk further either. Feeling ko aanudin kame ng dagat. hehe..
our first morning in Bora
Later that morning, weather was tamer. Dino talked to a man who offered island hopping services (fish feeding and a little snorkeling) for a very reasonable price. We did swam and saw the fishes, Liam tried going down too. But due to the strong waves, he got scared and was not in the mood the whole ride back. We did not finish the agreed tour, since Liam is not enjoying anymore. He is not having tantrum naman, but we don’t feel like pushing through na rin, since the little boy is not in the mood na. He enjoyed feeding the fishes though. 🙂
Trike ride going to the portLooking for our boat.. Liam not sure if he will like it.. hahaon the boat with our vests
That night, we went to D’mall to walk around and have our dinner. I also bought myself a dress, since I brought few clothing lang, not expecting that I will always get wet by the rain. hehe. The following day, we initially planned to have breakfast at the Real Coffee & Tea Cafe, where the famous Calamansi muffin is, but due to time and weather constraints, I have to settle with the hotel’s breakfast again. Due to my frustrations with the cafe, I ended up baking Calamansi cupcakes myself. hehe (see the recipe here)
lunch at Andok’s
I really don’t like to end without Liam really enjoying the trip. So before we get ready for our flight back to Cebu, I let Liam enjoy the hotel’s pool first. I specifically looked for a hotel with a pool (kahit maliit na pool pa yan, basta may pool), to be sure, as I have foreseen that Liam might not like the beach. So even if it’s a little cold, I asked the caretaker to clean the pool so we can have a dip.
Swimming in the pool.YEY! Swimming time for Liam!
Though we weren’t able to maximize our trip in Boracay, I would still say it’s a trip worth remembering. It’s really not about if we were able to swim or go around, it’s all about our time together and the memories we create together as a family.
One of my wish list for 2013 is to be able to travel with Liam and we did just that this year. We were able to travel a few times 2nd half of this year 2013 (yan nagagawa ng delayed post). First was the trip to Moal Boal with Ninong Ken and Ninang Bonch. ( you may see my post about it here, here and here).
After that, we were able to have 3 more weekemd escapades. One was our trip to Toledo on Liam’s 3rd birthday (see post here) . But before that we flew to Boracay last August (separate post for this) and as a pre-bora trip we checked in Shangri-La Mactan without Ate Donna. Yes just us 3. We left Donna at home to help Ate Lilia clean the house. I was able to convince Dino to buy vouchers when Shang had their Paradise Sale earlier this year.
This was the first time we had an overnight stay somewhere without Donna. Actually, I know naman na we can do it. Liam’s big and can understand na pero syempre, mas comfortable and hassle free if we have Donna with us. 🙂
Anyway, we were not able to take much photos then, since kame nga lang and my head ached the first day, so it was just Liam and Dino in the pool.
This is the view from our room..Enjoying the poolLiam and Daddy’s bonding time
Bumawi ako the second day. We went swimming after our breakfast and Liam enjoyed the slide so much we went back and forth. Pero napapaso na puwetan ko so I told him to stop na. 🙂 We let him run around by himself the whole stay that he scraped his knees. Both knees, the left knee twice. He did not cry, instead he said “Again!?’ as if he’s asking himself why he fell down again. Silly brave boy.
my turn at the Aquaplay.Tickling mommy with the dried leaves he got…my not little man getting out of the pool by himself. see the knee? Yeah, we let him be, kaya ayan.. tsk tsk! bad parents.. heheThe sllde that burned my bottoms.. Ouch!
What I love best about this trip is that it made Dino realize that he wants to this with us more often. Maybe not in Shangri-La again, since it’s really steep since we can’t enjoy all the amenities pa with Liam with us. Pero definitely, this trip set the pace for us. For sure, there will more weekend getaways to come on this site. 😉
Happy new year to all!! I have a lot of things to posts but too little time. One at a time, I’ll get there too. 🙂 To lessen my blog lags, here’s the last installment on Liam’s 3rd party. I really thought I’ve posted about this already, kow! Am really getting old!! Anyway, better late than never.
As mentioned in my party prep post, we decided to have an intimate out of town party this year. We drove all the way to Toledo and checked ourselves in at The Ranch. Aside from the pool, they also have an aviary, botanical garden and a ranch where you can try horse back rising. I was super excited about this but we were not able to try any of it. Hehehe
We left the city a little after lunch, we thought it would only be 1.5 hrs drive as what Dino have read online but traffic was heavy at the reclamation area that day and we ended up driving for 2.5 hrs. We arrived around 5pm and the other facilities were already closed. So we just hit the pool before dinner. Since it was Dino who drove, he did not swim with us that night. Nanuod at nag picture na lang sya.
Photo Opt muna bago byahe.. 🙂Liam enjoying the golf cart. Leah and I are his passengers. 🙂Lola duties while am changing..Daddy taking photos na lang, di makaswimming e.. 🙂My son super enjoying the water
Dinner was so so. But at least they are not over priced. We weren’t able to go out anymore for dinner as next establishment near the resort is 20mins away and jollibee lang din ata ang meron. Hehe… After dinner, it was Liam’s favorite part na – candle blowing. I ordered his cake from Angelica’s – same as last year’s (see post here).
The cake was ok naman except for the fact that they forgot to put “mommy” on the dedication. Anak ng patola! Am the one who ordered and this is my only share, wala pa ako sa ‘love,’ part ng dedication! After I pointed it out, the attendant quickly saud that she’ll add the word mommy, I said ok and showed her where to put it. I clearly said to put “mommy &” before the word daddy. Here’s what she did….
Liam’s Bug themed 3rd Birthday cake – a bit melted, since we drove it all the way to Toledo. 🙂
Nataranta ata samen ni Lola si ate! Haha… Pero aside from this taboo, we all loved the cake. Especially the birthday boy who ate all the sugar candies. 🙂
Calling all the guests, picture na.. 🙂Family pic before blowing the candleSee how my son is well supported? everybody helped blowing 🙂One prank the we (Co family) always do.. Put icing on the celebrant’s face. Liam did not like it. de Leon nga sya.. hehe
One thing that’s not so ok in The Ranch was that their accommodation doesn’t come with free breakfast. We still had breakfast there para hassle free lang then we hit the pool again. Since Mr. Sun was really instense that day, Dino did not allow us to go to the aviary and horse ranch anymore. We all settled down in Lolo and Lola’s room until it’s time for us to check out.
Muni muni…watching tv..ayan energized na.. akyat table na..Golf cart again..Daddy’s turn to swim and play with Liam..Lifting.. 😉 Liam asked me to do this, KOW di kaya ng powers ko. Told him to go back to his dad.. hehe
We had lunch at Sumibi Yakiniku Tajimaya at the Crossroads on our way back to the city. It is a Japanese shabu shabu restaurant that Dino and I love and now the whole family loves it too. Liam even told us one time that he wants to eat there again. He said he wants to eat sa cook cook. hehehe Dino and I were not able to take pics (again), I’ll just update this post once I get photos from my SIL, Leah.
Overall, it was a great celebration. My son was uber happy with the trip and the ice cream party his Ninang Tita prepared for him. This made me realize that a party need not be super bongacious, what’s important is that everybody (especially the celebrant) is happy. That’s all that matters. 🙂
We really went back to the city on the second day, but can’t think of better title for this post. This is actually Day 3 for Ninong and Ninang’s visit. 🙂
Anyways, that morning, we let the godparents sleep in a little. A little lang, kasi Liam still woke them up for breakfast and walang katapusang panggugulo at pagpapasikat…
Cheers!!!drinking for more good memories 🙂showing off.. he also went up the ladder, ran around and showed his guests the millipedes that wonders around
After our morning preparations, we all trooped to SM City Cebu. and as usual, ang pinakabulinggit ang nasunod where we will have our lunch – Tokyo Joe. After lunch and some store rounds (yes, we went to SM so Ninong can visit TNF and do store rounds), we all went back home for Liam’s nap time while the adults went to Carbon to buy Liam a pet.
Dino and I have been planning to buy Liam a pet for a while now, we just couldn’t agree what to get. I want fishes (pero nakakatamad mag linis ng aquarium) and Dino wants a Guinea Pig. Anyway, Ken learned that we want to buy Liam a pet and volunteered to pay for the pets as his gift for his inaanak. double yey for mommy.. hehe. When we got to Carbon, we all agreed to have..
HAMSTERS!!! Can you see the look in Ninong’s face? Looks like he wants to take the hamsters back to Manila. hehehe
We hurried back home so Liam will not wake up without us there, naku! Disaster yun! He agreed to nap with the promise that we will wait for him outside. hehehe.
S U R P R I S E ! !Checking the hamsters out
After playing with his new pets, Liam decided to show his godparents the village playground where we all played with him and looked for some bugs too.
Going to the playground…Swing with the girls…Seesaw with ninong…run with daddy..and dance… (he’s imitating Fely’s stunt in Hi-5’s Dancing Bus Song)Firebug!? I think, it looks the same as the bug in Liam’s app.. Anybody can tell us what bug this is!?Dragonfly resting on a branch.. after a minute of 2 of our probing, he flew away as if nakulitan na sobra samen.. hehehe 🙂
How time flies! This post is more than a month late and I still have 2 more adventures to post. Oh well, easy lang.. darating din ako sa kanila. Am so looking forward to more family outings with my boys.
By the way, before I end this post, some hamsters update and facts about our cute pets:
– They were named Popo (male) and Pipi (female) after the aliens in Pororo & Friends series
– Pipi went missing after 2 weeks with us (the tunnel was dis-aligned and she escaped). When we are already accepting that we can’t find her na, Ate Donna suddenly shouted and saw Pipi going in the neighbor’s gate.. Whew!
– After 3 weeks with us, Pipi gave birth to 7 pups, none of them lived. (bad masters. we don’t know how to breed them yet)
– Pipi’s mane is darker than Popo’s
– Popo’s mane is always wild (parang laging mahangin sa labas!)
– Pipi likes to be fed, Popo gets his food from the bowl
Hmm.. I think madadagdagan na ang pets come December, someone’s asking for a Guinea pig from Santa. hehe Let’s see if Santa will grant his wish.. 🙂
We started our day 2 early. Well, as you may have already read before, Liam is an early riser (another trait he got from his dad, definitely not mine.. hehe). Pati ang ninong at ninang nagising ng maaga. hehe Since our room does not come with free breakfast, the godparents bought bread, spreads and some snacks too. I brought some instant noodles naman for all. And for Liam, we ordered pancakes and omelet from the restaurant.
Breakfast is fun with the Bugoys and our Bugoyito.. 🙂
After our hearty breakfast, we decided to have an early swim. Liam scrutinized and ransacked the cabana first before we hit the pool. being the praning mommy that I am, I forced asked him to wear his floating vest which took me a while to convince him and to which, I also agreed him to remove after a while. Not sure if it’s really like that or maybe because I bought the cheap kind, the hems are rubbing his skins causing his skin to redden. Mas takot ako magka blisters anak ko, so I allowed him to remove na.
Checking the different shapes, sizes and surface of the shellscuddles with mommyLiam’s thought bubble: “Matatakasan ko din tong si Ate…“Yahoo!! Free at last!!”Huli ulit.. heheSee, he’s really enjoying the pool…mas enjoy pa sya, after I allowed him to remove his vest..am so glad that ninong was there, may isa pang taga buhat at bantay.. thanks ninong!
If you’re wondering where his ninang is, nag solo sa beach trying to find a “catch” hehe. We joined Tin sa beach after 2 hrs in the pool (longest for Liam). But I felt Liam is cold na, so we decided to troop back to barracks and relax a bit before our lunch. We had our lunch there again (one thing I don’t like here is having very few choices for our meals). Liam and Tin enjoyed the trampoline after lunch before we head back to the city.
Chi-cha muna after taking his bath..toma toma din pag may time.. not participating sa photo opt.. heheHe first tried the kiddie trampoline…then transfer to the bigger one with his ninang. 🙂 oh.. we also stayed here for a while.. 🙂 swing swing din pag may time ang nanay.. 🙂checking out..last photo opt before we finally head back to the city
Again, Liam was sleeping all the way back home. we all played (and drank a bit – Liam drank pineapple juice of course) before finally calling it a day. 🙂
At age 2 years 10 months, Liam knows what holiday is na. Yes, he will always say.. “Mommy, you don’t have office today? Today is holiday!” Hay… Yan lang masasabi ko. I always explain to him though what day it really is and what holiday is. For him kasi, Holiday means no office and play day. Oh well, I know for sure, many working mommies can feel me.
Anyway, last holiday for August, our long time friends and travel buddies Ken and Tin decided to spend the long weekend with us here in Cebu. Last trip we had with them was last April 2010. The gang decided to visit us here in Cebu before they all go to Bohol.
The Bugoys L to R – Ken, Dino, me at 3 months preggy with Liam, Tin, Raks and Terry Taken at The Tops.
This time around, Dino felt it’s time to break Liam in to the outdoors. We decided to drive all the way to Moal Boal and spend the day at the beach. Ninong Ken and Ninang Tin arrived cebu at the break of dawn. We left a little after lunch (Liam’s nap time).
Liam enjoyed playing making fun of his Ninang.
Playing with his Ninang Tin who’s seated at the back.
When we arrived, while Dino and Ken are registering, Liam requested to get out of the car to look at the pond. Sad to say, no fishes there. But he enjoyed looking at the little falls.
Love Liam’s shirt from Cotton On. Yellow ang peg ng anak ko. hehe
Oh yeah, we checked in at Club Serena Resort. It’s a bit pricey but it was so nice there. The room was big and clean. The outdoor bathroom is super nice (good for couples who are honeymooning) and it also have a separate comfort room. It was really worth the price. You may check out their site to see more.
We snacked a little and prepared to hit the pool. But weather that day is not on our side, it was so windy and it started to drizzle. So we had to get out of the pool and stay in our rooms til dinner time.
rare occasions I allow Liam to eat junk foods. He likes Mang Juan even if it’s a little spicy…before hitting the pool…
While waiting for our dinner, Liam enjoyed playing in the other room. Nakalimutan ng may nanay at tatay na ang hihintay sa kabila. We got rooms next to each other with balconies na kayang i-ober da bakod. So it is very easy mangapitbahay.
Our Balconies.. Liam going to the other room..
While waiting for our dinner, Liam was busy ransacking the other room. He played hide and seek (hiding behind the curtains) and jumping on Ninang Tin’s bed. I can hear them shouting even with the thick wall in between us. hehehe.. Sa kabusyhan sa pag alaga kay Liam, they were not able to take any pictures na.. hehe.. As per Ninang Tin, she almost had a heart attack sa likot ng inaanak nya. hehe
Liam sharing his fries..Chillax mode after our dinner
We planned to have a little drink before hitting bed. But after putting Liam to sleep, everyone was so tired that we decided to call it a night.
Watch out for the second installment of our adventure.
Before I finally end this post, here’s how the beach look like..
If there’s one more thing am thankful about MCWD aside from the water provision, is them operating Family park! It’s a park here in Talamban, Cebu that has a big fish pond, a swimmimg pool, a big field complete with seesaws, swings and slides and Liam’s favorite part – the mini zoo. Though animals here are nothing comapred to Manila Zoo or Tagaytay Mini Zoo but it’s still better than nothing. With only 10 pesos entrance fee for adults additional 10 for parking. San ka pa!? Oh, mind you, entrance fee is for free every first Sunday of the Month!! O diba!? nakakatuwa!!??
This is not the first time we visited Family Park. But this time around, we went there prepared. We brought with us a mat, some food and drinks and a lots of toys…
Bubble Time!! 🙂Liam’s having a hard time with his bike, di kasi pantay ang grounds.. Photo opt nlng.. 🙂
PAGOD!Off to the mini zoo..Liam feeding the rabbitsthen the deer.. Liam: ” Ey Deer! you had yours already, this is for her)“Mommy! Yuck!”“Mommy! There’s the bird!”“Where’s the monkey?”Back to the field.. Oh yes, there are little tykes play houses and slides beside the zoo, but not that clean, kaya pang photo opt nlng.. 🙂Dancing “Let it snow!” .. but if you really hold me tight.. la la la la…Seesaw naman…Dad, for you..okay, ako na lang ahm ahm.. yummy…
But if you’ll ask what Liam enjoyed the most…
R U N N I N G (I so love this shot!! :))
It’s so nice to spend weekends like this. Family time at the greater outdoors! (ehem! plugging yan.. ) Oh yeah, Liam’s wearing his Columbia Sportswear Anti Mosquito Pants. 🙂 Ang galing no!?
mommyjuvs 